Youthful Jr. Blues making playoff push

Tuesday

Mar 18, 2014 at 9:45 PM

By Dave KaneStaff Writer

The good news is, the Springfield Junior Blues are on pace to finish with a better North American Hockey League record than they did a year ago.

But thanks to this year’s changes in the NAHL North Division, the ice remains thin for the local team’s playoff hopes. It’s much like last season, when Springfield squeezed into the North’s final postseason slot.

That slot was sixth place out of eight teams. But the North is scaled down to six teams this season, and only the top four will be skating after the regular season ends March 30.

With five regular-season games left, the Junior Blues are 24-24-7 for 55 points. That’s one fewer than their 56 total last year, when they went 26-30-4 and lost their best-of-three first-round series to now-defunct Kalamazoo.

Entering this weekend’s two-game series at non-divisional foe Topeka, the Junior Blues are two points behind fourth-place Johnstown and three behind third-place Janesville. They’re also two ahead of sixth-place Sault Ste. Marie.

After the series at Topeka, against which Springfield is 5-5 this season, the Junior Blues host Janesville on Tuesday in the last regular-season home game. There’s also a regular-season-ending series at Sault Ste. Marie March 28-29.

Regardless of whether his team makes the playoffs, second-year Junior Blues coach Tony Zasowski is upbeat about what’s been a challenging season for the youngest team in a league for 16- to 20-year-olds.

“We have a young core of guys we’re developing, and that’s the ultimate goal,” Zasowski said. “We want these guys to be successful and be the core of the future.

“Obviously, we want to make the playoffs. But we’re happy with where we’re at. We have a good recruiting class started already for next year. Our goal isn’t just to make the playoffs, but to retain a good number of these guys going forward as we continue to build.”

Departures hurt

Zasowski believes the playoff picture would be different if the Junior Blues had been able to retain two forwards who moved up to the Tier I United States Hockey League (the NAHL is Tier II).

Patrick Curry, who was the team’s leading scorer at the time, went to the USHL’s Tri-City Storm in December. A month later, Kevin Shand moved up to the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders after getting eight goals and 10 assists in 21 games for the Junior Blues.

“It changed the culture and the identity of the locker room,” Zaskowski said of the USHL departures. “We had to make some changes there, and then we had to make a goalie change.

“So we had three big moves, and we did the best we could with it. We’re very, very young. But that’s why we’re excited because we’re still in position to make the playoffs.”

Stefanos Lekkas has shouldered much of the goalie duties, playing in 42 of the team’s 55 games. He received the Junior Blues’ Most Valuable Player award recently.

But Zasowski said scoring has been the team’s biggest challenge. Forward Max Kalter is the top goal-scorer with 14, followed by Pleasant Plains High School senior Trevor Stone with nine.

“Our margin of error is so small, so the anxiety and the pressure mounts sometimes. But for us to win twice last week (against Johnstown) shows that our guys can still find ways to win.”

Jr. Blues notes

The 17-year-old Stone also has 15 assists. His 24 points are tied with Mike Severson for second on the team.

“He suffered a high-ankle sprain right before the top-prospects event (a month ago),” Zasowski said of Stone. “We were struggling without him. But his first weekend back, he scored two goals and helped us win both games.

“He’s a very important piece of our team. We’ll rely on him in making this final push.”

n According to the NAHL web site, the Junior Blues’ average per-game attendance of 766 (over 29 games) is down from last year’s 927 in 30 regular-season games. But Zasowski said this year’s paid attendance is up from a year ago.

This is the second of a three-year lease agreement between the Junior Blues and the Springfield Park District, owner of the Nelson Center. Zasowski said the team already is making plans for next season here.

“We want our attendance to be higher, but we’ve had some challenges off the ice,” said Zasowski, referring to a turnover in the team’s sales and marketing staff. “We want to end on a high note and make sure next year is even better.”

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